The present invention relates to techniques for supplying unique identification information (IDs) to various types of electronic musical apparatus, such as electronic musical instruments and automatic performance apparatus, possessed by users.
Generally, unique identification numbers (IDs), such as serial numbers, are imparted, for purposes of appropriate management, to individual electronic musical instruments or other electronic musical apparatus manufactured in factories and then supplied (sold) to users. According to the conventionally-known ID imparting method, unique IDs, for example, in the form of serial production numbers, are imparted to individual electronic musical apparatus products at a suitable stage (e.g., final stage) of manufacture of the musical apparatus in a factory. Typically, the unique ID impartment has been performed by pasting seals, bearing unique IDs, to the individual electronic musical apparatus products. At a final stage of manufacture in a factory, each completed electronic musical apparatus product with it's unique ID imparted thereto is put in a packaging case, a registration card bearing the same unique ID is also put in the case. User having purchased the electronic musical apparatus product can make a user registration by putting his or her name, address, etc. on the registration card and sending the registration card back to the manufacturer. Nowadays, it has also become possible to make a user registration by manually entering the unique ID, such as a serial number, on a Web site of the manufacturer.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-99627 proposes a technique for eliminating the trouble of manually entering the unique ID when making the user registration. According to the proposed technique, the unique ID is stored, in a non-volatile manner, in a memory within the electronic musical apparatus at a suitable stage of the manufacturing of the electronic musical apparatus product in the factory. Subsequently, when a user, having purchased the electronic musical apparatus product, accesses a Web site of the manufacturer to make a user registration, the user sends the unique ID, previously stored in the memory of the apparatus, back to the Web site of the manufacturer. The proposed technique can dispense with the operation for manually entering the unique ID during the user registration procedure, and thereby reduce a burden on the user. However, the steps of imparting and storing the unique ID in the memory, during the manufacture of the electronic musical apparatus product, would become a significant factor that adds to the manufacturing costs.